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27 Nov 2011

Fuel poverty talk in Stroud on 8th Dec

"Failing on Fuel Poverty? Challenges and Solutions" will be on Thursday December 8th at the Imperial Hotel (opposite Stroud Railway Station) from 7pm-9pm. The keynote speaker will be Dr Brenda Boardman MBE from Oxford University, one of the UK’s leading experts on fuel poverty and the author of several influential books and reports including ‘Fixing Fuel Poverty’ and ‘40% House’.

I was asked to be a speaker at the event to share the work I did chairing the inquiries at Stroud District Council and helping get the Energy Strategy for the Council launched - by the way it passed at Cabinet a couple of weeks ago. However I have a District Council Scrutiny meeting that evening so sadly will be unable to attend - however I applaud the organisers for putting this on and raising the issue locally.

The talk is part of the national Warm Homes Campaign and it is local fuel poverty charity Wood U Waste who are organising the public meeting to explore the current crisis and the new policies needed to assist millions of households.

Other speakers include Brian Oosthuysen (Glos County Council), Neil Carmichael (MP) and Kaye Welfare (SWEA). They will also be launching our Donate Your Fuel Allowance Appeal seeking to raise thousands of pounds to help four local organisations - see my previous blog here.

Meanwhile Caroline Lucas MP commented this week: "It is completely unacceptable that millions of people across the UK are still struggling to keep their homes warm and protect their families from the cold - with excess winter deaths reaching 25,000, increasing by 38% during the cold snap last December, and over 5,000 households in Brighton Pavilion alone stuck in fuel poverty. If the Government is serious about eradicating fuel poverty by 2016, it must radically improve housing standards, curb the power of the big energy companies to charge what they like, and put in place measures to help fuel-poor households. In the meantime, I urge people to contact the Home Heat Helpline on 0800 33 66 99 to get advice on staying warm this winter."

"Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing."Arundhati Roy

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I note that these blogs entries may not be the views of the Green Party, but could be considered campaign material during an election. It must therefore be noted they are printed by, promoted by and on behalf of the Stroud District Green Party, 2 The Laurels, Bread Street, Ruscombe, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL6 6EL.